Saving Lucy

Impact

The next morning I woke up in Lilas bed to my alarm blaring. I silenced it. Showered. Tried to eat but nothing sounded good. I grabbed my phone and called Emmett.
"Hi you've reached..." I hung up. Of course no answer. Monday. Monday. Monday. It's only Saturday.
"Morning." Jackson came out of the bathroom.
"Morning."
"You know you scared us by leaving last night and telling anyone. Especially Tim..."
"I know I just couldn't handle it anymore... I needed to be home. I couldn't pretend to be okay. It felt wrong." I said.
"I get it. Just next time don't give us a heart attack."
"Sorry."
"I'm gonna go in and blow off some steam.." I said .
"See you in an hour."
I threw my trainers on and jogged the 15 minutes to work. I got in and went to the gym. Where I beat on the bag til I only had 10 minutes to be at roll call.
Tim comes in and sits down with the other TOs his eyes shooting me daggers I gulp. He doesn't look like Tim. My Tim. But this is our first shift since the conversation with Commander West. Maybe he's just trying too hard to be a normal TO.
Sargent Grey came in and wrote 3 numbers on the board 81, 91, and 97.
"All right. Shake off the rust and grab a seat. Anyone want to guess what these numbers represent? Nolan." Grey asked.
"Those are the scores to our six-month exams." Know it all Nolan said. I giggled at what I thought.
"That is correct, Officer Nolan." Grey pointed at him and smiled.
"Oh! We all passed." I tried to act surprised knowing I had atleast passed way before now but no one else here knows that.
"Technically, yes, but that 81 is ugly, given that an 80 is basically an F."  Oh god... what if that's my ugly score? No it couldn't be... Commander West would never let me and Tim slide if that was me.
"Who got the low mark?" Lopez asked , I'm sure her and Tim are just dying to figure out whose score is whose... but he has to have the same thought as me since he knows my test passed enough to let a TO, trainer relationship slide... right?
"Clearly not West." Tim said considering Jackson was the prodigy son... golden boy West.
Now for our assignment from Grey, "I could tell you, but self-reflection is necessary for your success as a patrol officer. So I want your guesses, as to which score is yours by end of shift. Understood?"
"Why not give them now?" Jackson asked. He had a point, telling us would just make it easier... but then again as an officer nothing is easy.
"To mess with our heads." Nolan pointed out. Which from my schooling I know is correct... sitting on stuff has a way to make reflection work out.
"Are you saying you're so easily sabotaged, Officer Nolan?" Grey asked us.
"No, sir, I was speaking for Officer Chen." He tried to make a joke. I shot him a dirty look letting him know that was NOT cool. But him and Grey both smiled.
"Sir, will there be consequences for the officer with the low score?" I braved asking... not wanting to know the answer.
"Officer Lopez, you want to take that?"
"At a minimum, a low score means merciless taunting for months." Lopez told us. It had to be me I was nervous because of all that was at stake. Would the Commander just be okay with a passing score?
"Great."
"But you three did pass, so there's good news - you can now wear short sleeves. Congratulations."
"Nolan." He answered Nolan's hand raise.
Yes no more sweating to death!!!
"Sir, who will I be riding with today?" Nolan asks.
"I was thinking me, how does that sound?" He holds up a thumbs up. But looks scared to death...

I go and get changed into short sleeves I see a few bruises from yesterday but ignore them and then go out to the hall to find Tim and Angela talking . I mean Bradford and Angela, I'm just boot right now.

"What are you doing?" Tim asks me once he sees me in my short sleeve uniform.
"What?" I was confused.
"My rookies wear long sleeves and ties til the last day of probation boot."
"Yeah but sergeant Grey said—" my smile faded as his face stayed hard and unwavering.
"Grey is not your training officer. I have complete discretion of the training of my boot, and that includes uniform. Okay? So go change back into your long sleeves. And don't forget the tie." He gets impatient when I just stare at him wordlessly and says, "Now, Boot."
I bump into Nolan and he asks where I'm going.
"To change back."